USEFUL HINTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 27 November 1926, Page 3

USEFUL HINTS.

Spots of milk or tea oil a brass fray will vanish before the application of i lemon juice. Clean gas stove burners once a week. Pierce the holes with a hatpin, and scour the ring in hot water and soda. An excellent furniture polish coil- ' sists of equal quantities of lioiled linsec ! oil and brown vinegar, put into a bote e , and well shaken. j A velveteen pad is an excellent pol- j isher tor glass,' metal and shoes. - It; g.h'es a good finishing touch to newly- | polished lurniture, whether cream, j paste, or oil has been used. J Vaseline is ail excellent, dressing for i patent leather shoes. Coat them with it i it they arc to he put away for any j length of time. When in frequent use, rub them with vaseline once a week, leave for a day and then rub mt. If you want oilcloth to wear well, never wash it with water. I'.se .skin im/lk, rub dry and polish with beeswax and turpentine. If it is treated in tin. way once a week, and on the oilier day.-, rubbed with a dry cloth after sweeping, j it will preserve it longer. Cracks sometimes occur in articles ■ made of unseasoned wood. Camouflage I the crack by idling them with beeswax j rue ted sufficiently to make it pliable, i Smooth the surface and sandpaper the ; surrounding part, - collecting the dust! formed and working it into the besswax j in the crack. Stain, and the crack w:i •scarcely be noticeable. I

Salt- neutralises the valuable miuera ' salts- in vegetables, .so should be added sparingly t.o them when they are cook ing. Jt is better to add it alter they arc cooked.

When putting cakes in airtight tin;; : do not put them m straight lrom tin. oven, but .sec that they are quite cold. Silks trill last much longer if soap i never applied direct y to 'them when trashed. Do not mb. Always rinse .several times i'n lukewarm water. Alter a knife has been used for anything acid, clean it at once. A pinch of baking soda added to the bathbriek will hcip to' brighten it. 'lt equal parts of olive oil and vinegar arc used for cleaning linoleum .1. wiil last much longer than if washed in the ordinary way. "When fires are not required, stoves are apt to get very dull-looking. Clean with a good stove polish. It will only need dusting to keep quite bright. A pinch of salt on the tongue, followed ten minutes later by a driuk of cold water will often cure a headache. Alum in the last rinsing water restores the colour of faded materials wonderfully.

When dusting carved furniture use a painter's brush with moderately stiff bristles.

To clean a polishing mop, boil in witter containing a handful of soda and a tablespooiiful of paraffin. Whitewash marks on furniture or windows can be removed by rubbing with a paraffin rag. Borax is even better than carbonate of soda for boiling with green vegetables.

For removing stains from table linen or from fragile materials, such as ninon and georgette, glycerine is unequalled, as it may be used without fear of injuring the fabric. The glycerine shook! bo dripped on to the stain from a clean sponge, and after it has been allowed a minute or two to soak in, tho mark should be rinsed in clear water. Do not rub. "With an obstinate or old standing stain it may be necessary to use warm glycerine. Renovating Carpels.-—A carpet that has lost.its stiffness, and refuses to lay flat when walked on can easily be made to lie like ji new carpet by first beating well, and then laying flat out on a verandah, wrong side up, and with a small brush give it a coating of g'ue, of nice consistency. Allow it to stand for a couple of hours till -it- dries. If there are any colomed patterns on the carpet, that have faded, these can be touched up with a little paint thinly mixed. Oil paints or even water paints, or reel, or green ink will do. Try these little hints on your worn carpet and you will bo surprised at the difference. Even a small hole can bo- overcome by darning before glueing it, or a little patch on the wrong side pasted'over with glue will hide a hole.